WACA dumps booze, fast food
WA cricket is dumping its alcohol and junk food promotion in return for a record $2.1 million sponsorship deal with Healthway.
The WA Cricket Association's three-year agreement marks the end of sponsorship by alcohol company Lion and soft drink Coca-Cola, whose signs and logos will disappear from the WACA Ground, district clubs and uniforms.
It is the latest in a series of sporting organisations to align with Healthway, which has a policy of not sponsoring groups that also accept money to promote unhealthy brands or messages.
The deal is the biggest in the history of the State Government-funded agency, which was set up in 1991 and gives about $7 million a year to sporting groups.
WACA chief executive Christina Matthews said cricket was making a stand that it wanted to send out healthy messages to the community.
"It doesn't affect supply, because we are a business, but it restricts them to point of sale," she said.
But Ms Matthews conceded it would not stop Cricket Australia's KFC Big Bash or Carlton and United Breweries sponsoring the one-day series.
"Healthway understands that in effect Cricket Australia comes to WA and hires our ground," she said.
WA coach Justin Langer said the move away from alcohol sponsorship was challenging but a sign of the times.
"In the past there's been all the lovable rogues like David Boon, Dougie Walters and Merv Hughes, and we've had our incidents at the WACA, but the reality is times have changed," he said.
"In this world of professionalism it's the way things are, whether people like it or not, so this is a really positive move.
"I've been clear and up-front about that since the day I took over this job, that culturally we haven't been that great and the perception of the WA cricket team has been poor, but we've worked really hard to turn that around."
Langer said it was a matter of getting the balance right with alcohol and addressing excessive drinking, and elite sportspeople had an opportunity to influence community attitudes.
Healthway chairwoman Rosanna Capolingua said it was the first time in more than a century that WA cricket would not be promoting alcohol.
"This is a recognition by one of the most iconic and dearly loved sports in Australia that they have to disengage themselves from alcohol and junk food promotion," she said.